Mctominay rewards Mcleish’s efforts by choosing Scotland

United midfielder opts not to play for England Mourinho backs World Cup claims of Rashford

Scott Mctominay, the Manchester United midfielder, has chosen to pledge his international future to Scotland over England.

The 21-year-old, who has broken into United’s first team this season, held talks with Scotland manager Alex Mcleish last week.

Mctominay was born and raised in Lancaster and is eligible to play for England, but his father, Frank, is Glaswegian and he has decided to represent Scotland. He is expected to be named in Scotland’s squad for the games against Costa Rica and Hungary later this month.

Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, believes Marcus Rashford is a victim of inflated expectations, but insists the striker’s place in England’s World Cup squad should not be under threat because he is currently struggling to hold down a regular first-team place at United.

Rashford last started a Premier League match in the 2-2 draw with Burnley on Boxing Day, and has played just 311 minutes of football since then, only 128 minutes of which have come in the league.

England coach Gareth Southgate is known to be worried about the amount of time Rashford is spending on the substitutes’ bench with the World Cup finals only three months away.

Southgate still intends to name Rashford in his squad for this month’s friendlies against ‹Crystal Palace v Manchester United

‹Kick-off 8pm

‹Sky Sports Premier League Holland and Italy, but hopes the striker will soon force his way back into United’s first team after previously stating he will only pick players who are playing regular club football.

But Mourinho says Rashford will go to Russia if Southgate believes in him. He said: “I don’t reassure anyone, but the main reassurance for him is that he is always selected.

“There is not one single match when Marcus is not selected to start or to be on the bench.

“There are many examples of players who don’t play for their clubs at all and they go to their national teams. You have the example of Sergio Romero, who is the second goalkeeper at United and the first-choice for Argentina.

“So it’s up to Gareth Southgate. If he trusts him, he selects him. It doesn’t matter if he plays or doesn’t play for Manchester United.”

Mourinho believes Rashford’s electrifying emergence, when he scored seven goals in his first 12 games for United in 2016, and on his debut for England against Australia, has served only to raise expectations.

“At his age, what he’s doing is more than enough and the experience he’s getting at every level is more than enough for us to be happy,” Mourinho said. “But because he had such an impact, people expect him to play, score and perform even more than what he does. “The good thing is, is that he can play in the three attacking positions, so even when he doesn’t start, to have him on the bench is such a security for the team.”

United will be without defenders Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind and midfielders Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini at Crystal Palace tonight. Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still not ready to return.